The SB Nation Houston Dynamo blog Dynamo Theory looks at Carlos Ruiz, a Dynamo nemesis from his days with FC Dallas. The bottom line: “As crazy as it sounds, a healthy and motivated Ruiz could put himself in to contention for the Golden Boot. It comes down to how Nowak plans to utilize him and how committed he is to playing at a high level.”

Another Houston blog, Soccer Matters with Glen Davis, has this to say about about the Union ahead of next week’s matchup: “Key players have been acquired right down the spine of this team. The Union are expecting nothing less than making the playoffs and after their stunning late win against the Dynamo at Robertson last year, this has the makings of a great opener. Villans [sic] are an important part of playing up MLS matches.”

The soccer haters have generally piped down after last summer’s World Cup once again got them riled up with the realization that soccer is not only long-established in this country but interest and participation in the sport continues to grow. Some of these knuckle draggers may find the occasion of the opening of the new MLS season as an excuse to spout their increasingly irrelevant, not to mention exceedingly boring, pap. Have no fear, Conor O’Grady at Philly Union Talk is heading them off at the path with this piece on the passion of a Union fan.

MLS

The league has released its MLS Matchday 2011 app for iPad, iPhone and Droid. I just downloaded the app, which is free, for my Droid and when you click on the Union, the Doop song is played. Haven’t had any time to play around with it yet but it the very least it centralizes news, videos, Twitter, schedule and roster info in one location. Nice.

Toronto FC suffers its second defeat to USL PRO side in the preseason, losing 2–1 to Charleston Battery in the Carolina Challenge Cup. They lost to Orlando SC in the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic in February, the same team that had previously topped the Union.

12 Comments

I’m in that crowd of Women somewhere, trust me… The Conor O’Grady piece on PUT had me quite fired-up yesterday afternoon. It’s a must read! I love my Philly Soccer Football websites as much as the UNION itself. They’re all quite DOOPALICIOUS! 🙂